Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Descendants of Pafna (2)
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Darkness woven in strands fluttered here and there across the streets. From the markets and theaters to the churches and slums. Look up, and there wasn't a single building without long black cloths draped and billowing.
It was like the dish where a small bird was drowned in liquor out of gluttonous greed to savor its flavor, placed upon the table. A symbol to hide sins before the goddess.
The difference was that instead of eating, they trampled it. Just like stepping on fallen petals.
The Night of Falling Petals.
Black-draped carriages bearing nobles pulled up one after another before Paron's government office. Fireworks occasionally burst above the procession. Passersby shielded their faces from the hot winds blowing toward the city.
It was a wildfire. The smoke rising beyond the walls clearly showed a massive blaze engulfing the mountains.
"Fire carts."
Regi said. He was speaking of the wagons loaded with straw.
"Going into the forest to hunt down the hidden descendants of Pafna is too dangerous for Paron's knights. So they set the mountains ablaze like that to trap us."
Paron was an economic hub frequented by countless merchant caravans, including Schmidt's. Spare wagons were easy to come by.
With minor modifications, they were sent beyond the walls. The wagons, equipped with mana stone-powered drives, climbed the mountains on their own, spreading their flames nearby.
It wasn't an inextinguishable flame like heavenly fire, but the scale was different. Gazing at the smoke filling the sky, Regi said to me,
"I'm going with the other slaves to rescue our kin."
"And?"
"We'll rally them and storm Paron's citadel to free our captured comrades."
He seemed to have slipped out with that in mind. Early dawn. He'd found me in the stables, eyeing the fine horses when no one was around.
I'd hidden for nothing. Thinking I was the coachman, I'd hurriedly buried myself in the haystack, but he spotted me right away.
Partly because I lacked stealth skills, but mostly because the descendants of Pafna had superior tracking abilities. I naturally brushed the straw from my hair and asked,
"Did you get Alhena's permission?"
There were many slaves behind Regi. One wrong move, and they'd all get caught by Nordt too. Alhena wouldn't want the plan derailed like that.
In truth, she was letting Regi and the others roam free because she was wary of me. She was cooperating to eliminate the Twin Stars quickly, not because she approved of slaves breaking out on their own.
"That's why I'm telling you, Ivar. Please don't stop us."
"The Justice Ministry's enforcers will arrive in Paron soon. No thought to wait until the Night of Falling Petals ends?"
"None."
"Why?"
"Because it's burning."
Was he talking about the mountains? Or their hearts?
I didn't ask. Because this time, I didn't need to cast a vow on all those people.
I lent Regi my axe once more. Moments later, a herd of horses poured out of the stables.
Slipping out the back door cautiously, I found Alhena waiting there with a grin. The sleepless merchant clicked her abacus, demanding compensation as if she'd been waiting for this.
"You'll take responsibility if they don't come back, right~?"
"You should've watched them better."
Things of the plains belong to no one by nature. How arrogant to claim ownership of horses born and raised in the wild by a mere human.
"These are foals bred generation after generation on our ranch. Exposed to mana constantly through feed and shoes, they're usable as warhorses too. Each one's worth more than two wagons loaded with silk~?"
"They'll return."
"You hold shares in Meb's firm, don't you~?"
They'll return, I said. I fixed the stable door that Regi's excited comrades had smashed.
Alhena ordered a servant to prepare a carriage to take us to Paron's government office. She wasn't thinking of haggling over baggage. She seemed more focused elsewhere.
Almost there, she muttered softly,
"Well, since you don't own them yourself, it's fine."
"Because if I die, you can't eliminate the Twin Stars?"
"As if you'd die after killing them? What I'm worried about is you'll reveal your true self and get exposed~."
Paron was currently swarming with nobles. Few could distinguish barbarian differences, but a powerhouse outside the norm was another story.
They'd sniff out info at the slightest notice. And the sharpest among them would soon realize the prince consort candidate who felled the black dragon was here liberating another minority.
Harald had given a similar warning, so I'd been cautious to some degree.
"Especially if the imperial family finds out, some royal will definitely try to kill you. If that happens, Pafna's descendants or not, I'll bolt first, so keep that in mind......"
"I see."
I suddenly muttered in a gloomy tone,
"I thought you'd protect me."
"Yes, heh......?"
Alhena looked flustered, then hastily backpedaled.
"N-not necessarily? Some things hold value beyond their worth, so if I fully claim you as my eternal slave, I'll somehow extract you~!"
"Just kidding."
"What?"
The carriage stopped, and I got out immediately. Only nobles could enter the banquet hall for the meeting, so I planned to wait outside.
This plan hinged on Alhena not betraying me at the end, but her reaction when I tested her seemed reassuring.
"Have a safe trip. I'll keep my promise too."
"Worst, absolutely worst~!"
After Alhena gathered her dress skirts and entered the hall, I wandered nearby, inspecting the nobles' carriages.
Not to steal a good horse, but as I said earlier, to check which factions had gathered.
Faces from the party. Most were those who'd bought slaves at the auction on Alhena's instigation. Others were local nobles from around Paron.
"Hm?"
Then I spotted a fine house's carriage. Glazed black as the dark cloths draping the alleys, with healthy-looking horses.
As I approached one stealthily, gripping the reins after checking around, my eyes met the woman on the driver's seat. Rubia's maid, Nerisa.
"What are you doing, Lord Ivar?"
"Long time no see."
"Why the reins......"
"I was hungry and looking for something to chew."
Luckily, my barbarian act got me off the hook. I tore into the jerky she gave me as we chatted briefly.
"Rubia's here too?"
"The Night of Falling Petals requires Justice Ministry mediation. She's already inside."
"I see."
"Oh, the young miss asked if you took her axe."
"No idea."
"Really? She was sure you stole it......"
"Tell her it's rude to call someone a thief."
Other carriages had coachmen guarding them, so I gave up on scouting. If the meeting dragged on, I figured I'd ride to a vantage point overlooking the mountains.
After parting with Nerisa, as I circled once more reluctantly,
"The Golden Lotus's male cannon, huh. You've followed us all the way here."
A cold voice stopped me. It was Count Nordt.
He'd sent his army to the mountains and come for the Night of Falling Petals. Voting rights—i.e., the number of Pafna's descendants owned—were verified directly by the Justice Ministry, so their fate wouldn't be decided tonight.
He was a martial man close to a soldier, like Serath. Though his personal prowess didn't match hers, he harbored utter disgust for barbarians leeching off the empire.
"Look at the sky. Your kin's screams ride the smoke all the way here."
As he pressed his horse close with a trampling aura, I asked,
"You remember Regi, so you remember me too?"
"Hm? Oh, from the party? No memory. Of you or that barbarian."
He didn't know Regi. He'd just made it up to justify killing a barbarian in the duel.
He wasn't even the type to use Pafna's descendants as slaves. He wanted them exterminated, borrowing imperial might if needed. So it made sense.
"Times have flows. You barbarians wouldn't understand, but the imperial will is to cleanse tainted blood. Internal or external, doesn't matter."
Even in the royals rife with extreme pure-blood incest, some were more radical. Separate from the emperor granting me prince consort status, a few denied barbarians existed. Nordt seemed connected to one Alhena mentioned.
His cold eyes fixed on me.
"No need to kill you here. You'll die when the banquet ends."
"......"
"Looks like some slaves escaped, but that won't change the tide......"
"Can't hear you."
"What?"
"Your voice is too small. Can't make out a word."
Chattering noisily from horseback, I have no idea what he's saying.
I looked up at the sky. Beyond the black smoke. Something thicker and vaster shrouded the sun.
"Almost here, I guess."
Storm clouds. From the windy north, fierce rain poured as they advanced this way.
"You know, back on the plains, there's just three kinds of people I can't stand."
Kara vented her irritation atop the straw. Helga sat beside her.
"First are the idiots who can't do shit on their own and cling to others."
"I see."
"......"
"What's the other?"
Unable to withstand the silent glare, I asked. As if waiting, Kara ranted about her second most hated type.
"Obviously, thieves who touch others' stuff without permission."
"Ahem. And the last?"
"Ivar."
"......"
Isn't it all Ivar? Ignoring Helga's doubt, Kara clenched her fists, trembling.
A blue rune shaped like waves adorned the back of her hand.
"This time, I'll make sure he doesn't touch it. No matter how much we gained thanks to him, I won't forgive it."
"Heard you went to the Eternal Lake."
"Yeah, the spirits went berserk there. Shamans say it happens sometimes, especially when the lake's pollution worsens."
Ivar got his third rune there before. Kara had gone recently at the water shamans' request.
The water had turned black, drawing countless corrupted spirits. Luckily beast-like, she subjugated the strongest, but later heard Ivar dumped something in the lake.
Thinking back, Frost Scale Gorge where they got Horori and the unicorn—Ivar had been there first. Always following his tracks soured her mood, but it let her bring the storm clouds.
Unlike the chattering pair from the plains, Bigo huddled silently in the corner, eyes closed. The wagon jolted upon reaching the mountains.
"Bigo, say something!"
At Kara's shout, Bigo opened his eyes. Seeing the walls emerge through the smoke, he spoke.
"Just three."
"Huh? What?"
"The number of runes Ivar had when he smashed the rat bastards' gates alone."
At Stonegar chieftain Harald's request, the tribes selected a few elite warriors to topple Paron's keep. One condition: strength.
After rounds of duels, the Grassland Alliance's three warriors boarded the merchants' wagons without a loss.
"This time, I'll smash it."
"Do what you want."
"I'll help, Bigo."
The days they'd been mocked as rookies felt ancient. Like it or not, following Ivar's footsteps and absorbing his lessons, they each had four runes now. The most among the plains' young warriors.